As Izel’s ship and Sarge’s truck both speed towards the tower on their own missions, Sarge makes his play to take control of Zephyr 1.

Sort of an odd one this week with SHIELD, as the episode basically gets split into two halves. The first is a kind of extended bit between the impending collision of the truck with the tower/the bomb on board going off, while Izel’s ship advances slowly down from the atmosphere and FitzSimmons slowly realise just how much trouble they’re in. Once both those get (sort of) resolved, the episode really kicks into gear, and gives us some of the best action of which the show is capable.

That first extended sequence does hurt a bit though, as it feels like the writers are desperately trying to wring as much drama as possible out of events that really shouldn’t take that long. How long, for example, is that road that the truck is on? And at one point, as Fitz declares that they are ‘five minutes away’ from the planet, a subsequent wide shot suggests that the ship is about a few hundred feet up in the air.

Fortunately, as I’ve said, once that’s done, there is excitement aplenty. Sarge’s takeover of the Zephyr is relatively bloodless, but brutal, and gives him the chance to demonstrate once again just how very ruthless he can be. When things start to get really tasty though, is when the inevitable fightback begins, leading to one fight in particular which is as visceral as it is satisfying. There’s also a chance for YoYo to demonstrate just why she is such a valuable agent, beyond her ability to move really quickly.

Steaming along towards a conclusion which can’t help but not quite feel final (given that we have several more episodes to come in the season), the episode nevertheless manages to pack in enough further twists and turns to leave the viewer intrigued as to exactly how everything will shake out by the end.

Oh, and there’s one scene in particular which made this long term fan very happy, and if the writers reverse it later on down the line, I will be… less happy. For what that’s worth.

Verdict: Oddly split down the middle, this is an episode that takes a while to get into its groove but when it gets there, boy does it stick with it. 8/10

Greg D. Smith